LiverKick - LiverKick

A WBC Muay Thai Japan event has been announced for October 2nd at Korakuen Hall and will be headlined by a super fight between K-1 MAX -63kg 2010 Champion Tetsuya Yamato and WBC Muay Thai World Featherweight Champion and Rajadamnern Stadium Super Featherweight Champion Jomthong Chuwattana. Yamato is coming off of a TKO victory over Coke Chunhawat at the M-1 Grand Muay Thai Championship event in California a couple weeks ago. He also lost to Koya Urabe in the semifinals of the 2011 K-1 Japan tournament after beating HIROYA in the quarters. Jomthong is undefeated in 2011 and on a 8 fight win streak which includes a defense of his Rajadamnern Stadium title and a pair of wins over Nong-O Sit Or, as well as a TKO win in a boxing match.

In the co-main event, the "Strongest Female High School Student" Erika Kamimura will take on WBC Muay Thai International Mini-Flyweight Champion Denise Mellor. Kamimura was last seen storming through the Shootboxing Girls S-Cup Japan Preliminary Tournament, taking out Kanako Oka and Miyo Yosihda by TKO and Seo Hee Ham in the finals by decision. Mellor won the WBC International title in the UK over Annie Errikson in July. Hopefully Kamimura comes out of the fight with little to no injuries as she has a scheduled fight with RENA at the RISE event on 11/23.

Also announced for the card is an interesting matchup between WBC Japan and NJKF Super Featherweight Champion Rashata and former AJKF and J-Network Featherweight Champion Hiromasa Masuda. Rashata had a great 2010, surprising many with wins over former AJKF Featherweight Champions Hisanori Maeda, Genki Yamamoto and Masahiro Yamamoto, so that could be a bit of foreshadowing for this fight. More recently, he lost to Kanongsuk Weerasakreck by decision. Masuda also lost to Kanongsuk last June and is winless in his last 3 fights, taking a draw at the first It's Showtime Japan event. {jcomments on}

In the main event of September 23rd's RISE 83, NJKF Super Flyweight Champion KENJI, brother of Yuta Kubo, will take on #3 ranked Ryuma Tobe in a fight that will have large implications for the RISE Bantamweight title that Nobuchiko Terado has vacated. KENJI made it to the semifinals of the Krush 55kg tournament, but lost to eventual champion Shota Takiya. In his last 10, KENJI has only lost to Takiya and the aforementioned Terado. Tobe is currently on a 2-fight winning streak. Also announced for RISE 83 is a bout between TURBO and Hirotaka Egawa(?).

On September 11th at It's Showtime Japan 3, former It's Showtime -61kg Champion Sergio Wielzen will take on Kanongsuk Weerasakreck in yet another bout that will likely have implications at the It's Showtime title. Wielzen defeated Frenchman Mikael Peynaud for the inaugural It's Showtime 61kg title and defeated Masahiro Yamamoto in his first defense, but lost the title to Karim Bennoui. Kanongsuk has been on a tear as of late, going 8-1 in his last 9 with wins over Hiromasa Masuda, Genki Yamamoto and Rashata while his only loss is to current IS 61kg #1 contender Kan Itabashi. Already announced for the card are matchups between WBC Japan Super Bantamweight Champion Genji Umeno will take on Techakarin Chuwattana(?) while WPMF Japan Featherweight Champion Yosuke Morii will take on kickboxing convert and former WBO Bantamweight Champion Ratanchai Sor Vorapin. {jcomments on}

August 28th will mark the second It's Showtime Japan event, this time a co-promotion with the Fujiwara Festival. However, its biggest impact on the kickboxing world will be Hisanori Maeda's retirement ceremony. Maeda was the 20th AJKF Featherweight Champion and has faced nearly every notable name at 60-63kg in Japan. During his time in AJKF, he faced Naoki Ishikawa, Masahiro Yamamoto, Genki Yamamoto, Hiromasa Masuda, Haruaki Otsuki, Kanongsuk and Ryuji Kajiwara. Though he was unsuccessful against many of them, he managed to go 2-1-1 against Naoki Ishikawa, with their final encounter being a draw for the AJKF Super Featherweight Championship at the last AJKF show.

After AJKF disbanded, he entered the 2009 Krush Lightweight tournament, defeating Fire Harada by knockout in the opening round of the tournament, but losing to Genki Yamamoto in the quarterfinals. He went on to defeat Daisuke Uematsu in a super fight at the finals of the Krush tournament. However, he finished out his career going 1-4 in 2010, losing to TURBΦ and Rashata in that stretch.

Maeda is just one of the many AJKF fighters who has struggled to find success in the post-AJKF Japanese scene and his retirement signifies another step in this changing of the guard in the Japanese scene which has seen many K-1 Koshien fighters find success in both K-1 and Krush. AJKF fighters may have a resurgence in the near future, but Hisanori Maeda will not be one of them.

Ai Takahashi was supposed to meet Erika Kamimura in a super fight at next week's Shootboxing Girls S-Cup Japan Preliminary Tournament. Unfortunately, Takahashi suffered a fractured left orbital bone in training and won't be able to participate. However, Kamimura has not withdrawn from the event and instead has chosen to participate in the tournament. Shootboxing chairman Ceasar Takeshi said that he would like to reschedule the match under RISE rules on November 23rd's RISE event, but nothing official is in the works as of now. He also announced the other participants for the tournament, as well as the tournament draw. In the first round, Erika Kamimura will face off against Kanaka Oka, MMA fighters "WINDY" Tomomi Sunaba and Miyo Yoshida will face each other, 2009 Girls S-Cup Finalist and Valkyrie Featherweight Champion V.V Mei will face J-Girls 3rd ranked MINA and MMA fighters Seo Hee Ham and Emi Fujino round out the tournament.

The most likely outcome of the tournament would be a Kamimura vs Ham finals, however V.V Mei could pull off an upset, as she has done in the past, though I see it rather unlikely against Ham, who absolutely dominated V.V Mei in an MMA fight back at Jewels 15. Rena is still set to participate at the event, but has no opponent as of now.{jcomments on}